Oct 31, 2023

SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by Richard Brinsley Sheridan - Comedy: 4 women, 9 men

 Sir Oliver Surface has only recently returned to England after 15 years away, and hearing the terrible gossip about his nephews, he resolves to secretly discover their true natures before revealing himself and choosing an heir.

Labels: , ,

posted by Greg at 2:59 PM

9 Comments:

Blogger C zar said...

I really enjoyed being in a production of this , playing (Odious Uncle) Crabtree. As in the Rivals, Sheridan does a great job mixing totally over-the-top, insane characters on the edges with relatively normal (and surprisingly modern) folks at the heart of the story. Some great roles for character actors and an opportunity for wild costuming, I find this a delight. I've seen productions where the family portraits are empty frames that are held in front of audience members, which can be quite fun.

Stu

11:29 AM  
Blogger dwight said...

A good classic that would be a challenge. It is great fun with fun characters. Big Yes.

12:05 PM  
Blogger Arona said...

Witty, mirthful, moves along. Agree, good parts for actors. Great idea of audience members in the empty frames of the family. My vote is Yes.

3:13 PM  
Blogger Jean said...

The writing is exquisite! And the names of the characters are a stitch! Where would we break up the acts? Is the epilogue spoken? Yes for me.

10:54 AM  
Blogger steph long said...

I've always loved this piece.

7:50 PM  
Blogger Howard said...

I agree. Yes.

8:31 PM  
Blogger K.C. said...

It’s a definite yes for me, too.

2:11 PM  
Blogger Don said...

It's an amusing classic, but here are my concerns:

There's some antisemitic elements here. The token Jewish character, Moses, is a moneylender and described as a "friendly Jew" (among other things). The play infers that this character (who fits into old Jewish stereotypes) is the exception to the rule about Jews being dishonest. If we can find a way to cut these lines out, we miiiight be okay? But I can't support a play with this kind of message (especially with all the antisemitism happening right now).

This is a man-heavy piece (11 men, 4 women). So if we do this play we should consider either A.) having a woman-heavy play to balance the season, or B.) look to see if any of these characters could be gender-bent. I'm honestly all for seeing fewer plays where the guys greatly outnumber the gals.

This is another example of a play about the high society of colonial Britain. Let's be cautious about how many of these we want in a season. Our Agatha Christie plays usually lean heavily in that direction (and too much of her writing has similar problematic dialogue).

4:19 PM  
Blogger Scott G said...

I have seen it done twice. I just finished re-reading it. I do not like it and have no interest in ever seeing it done again. I would rather remount something like Ring Around the Moon. It too has many of the same themes, but it is much more engaging.

6:06 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home